Admissions Policy to Nursery Classes in Schools and Children's Centres consultation

The government is introducing changes to the way nursery education is funded across the country. This change means that in Islington from September 2017, fewer children will be able to access a fully funded full-time nursery class place although all children will still be able to access a part-time 15 hour place.

From September 2017, some 3 and 4 year olds will be entitled to 30 hours per week of free childcare, under a new government scheme. The extended entitlement is intended to support working parents with the cost of childcare and enable them, where they wish, to return to work or to work additional hours.

In light of the government changes, Islington Council is proposing to change the admissions policy for nursery classes in Islington primary schools and children's centres

The aim of changing the admissions policy is to:

• support providers to allocate full time and part time places
• ensure a fair and transparent policy and practice across maintained early years settings in the borough
• continue to support the most vulnerable children to access a full-time provision

What changes are we proposing

Quotas for part-time and full-time places for schools and children's centres
Islington children's centres and schools will have a quota of part time and full time places based on their approximate take up of non-free school meal families (non-FSM) in the last three terms. The quotas will be used to support schools and children's centres to allocate places and will be kept under review.

Charging scheme
We are proposing to introduce a charging scheme to schools so parents not meeting the eligibility criteria for 30 hours free childcare can purchase extra hours should they wish to do so. The charging scheme will be in line with the children's centres sliding scale charging scheme. Under this, parents pay according to their household income. Charges within the maintained sector will therefore be fair and transparent across the borough.

Admission to children's centre nurseries
Currently access to children's centres is determined by the area in which a family lives. We are proposing to change this to a straight line measurement to bring it in line with the other maintained sector providers. The admission policy continues to prioritise Islington residents.

The charging scheme and admissions policy are only for maintained schools and children's centres. While we encourage other schools to adopt similar admissions policies and charging structures, the final decision will rest with their governing bodies.

We would like to invite you to give your views on our proposed admission policy. Please read the documents and then complete the survey from this link.